Welcome to the official blog for Expedition 13A. We'll be keeping you posted on all the happenings of life on expedition from 10th January to 11th April. Check back and please send us your comments, it's free and easy. ¡Pura vida!

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

The Zulus are back at Zero!

The Zulus have returned to Fieldbase from their Adventure Challenge!

I'd like to say that they came bounding up the driveway, full of the days of spring...however they were more akin to zombies than spring lambs after a 3.30am start, a nap on the bus and the small issue of 8 days of solid adventure!

Here are their summaries of the past few days...photos to follow!

ZULU 1 - by Sarah Tight
"So where ARE we?" was the first question from Tarlaan when we arrived at the beginning of our 5 day trek. Little did we know that navigation was to become impossible, traversing snake-infested grass the norm and that our personal fragrances could reach such potency! Spirits rose and fell, but the spectacular views kept us going up the near-vertical hills. We walked up A LOT of such hills, swam in amazing rivers, laughed, cried, and overall, survived!

ZULU 2 - by Mayci Hicks
Zulu 2 is comprised of many different people from different Delta groups, yet despite these differences we fell in effortlessly to the social circle that would shape our lives for the next 5 days on trek.
Raleigh trek consists of 55km, 4 Zulu groups, rucksacks containing our weight in Pork & Beans and some of the hardest days we have ever experienced.We overcame a multitude of challenges and our team never broke, despite...
- encountering tricky boulders in our river crossing and then realising it was the wrong way...
- trying to find camping ground between walls of mud and corn
- seeing ANOTHER 50 degree mountain climb with a rucksack in the heat of the midday sun...

During moments like this, it is easy to see the qualities that make up a person. No-one in Zulu 2 gave up.

Yesterday, the winners of the trek and survival challenge were announced and there has never been a prouder moment than when Zulu 2 was proclaimed the victor! 10, 20, 30 years from now, if something goes wrong, these memories will help us pull through, realising "I can do anything". Zulu 2 may officially end when we leave Raleigh, but our connections never will.

ZULU 3 - by Taormina Locke
After the exhausting but immensely rewarding trek, all the Zulu teams were whisked away to 'Paradise Island', a beautiful island haunted by the ghosts of the old prison there.

Our first night was spent setting up camp next to the pier, and then being given a talk by Ross on San Lucas Island's history. Although a little spooked, we were all looking forward to getting a good night's sleep until 7.30am - a lie in!

However, we were dragged from sleep by a blood-curdling scream at 5am followed by huge shouts and roars! Our tents were pulled to the ground, and we hopped out into the dawn to see our PMs had gone wild! All dressed in ghostly attire, they rounded us up into our Zulu groups to start the 24-hour survival challenge.

The challenge entailed navigation from a point to which we had been led blindfolded, tight-rope walking, spider-web diving and bridge-building, camping, cooking dinner from scratch (including scaling fish) and finally rounded off by a celebratory jump off the pier into the sea!

This morning we woke at 3.30am to get packed and load the boats heading back to the mainland. What an incredible last few days to end a Raleigh expedition!

ZULU 4 - by Anna Coleridge
Shocked to be woken up at 5.30am just days after finishing trek, Z4 started the survival challenge slowly. After a less-than perfect first task (though Mark did build a great fire) we picked up our game. In the raft-building task we put in a strong performance and were complimented on our intelligent design. The final two challenges in the morning went relatively smoothly, though our size range from Leon to Carla meant we struggled to balance weight!

Fatigued and ready for lunch, we stopped on a path to eat before finding camp for the night. We reached our designated beach just in time to meet the 'boatman' Ross with our fish and bread for supper.

Mark built a wonderful fire, Grace scaled many a fish for supper and Annie and Alice made bread dough in bowls made out of watermelons, culminating in a lovely evening around the fire (did we mention the fire?).

Up at 4.30am because of the concrete floor, we were back at base in good time to hear that Z2 had won! Despite this, we thoroughly enjoyed the survival challenge and are ready to come home.

Hi Emmeline,(Brown, Zulu 1) Here to confirm are the travel details you probably have with a few extra details filled in.You check-in at San Jose with luggage and they will give you boarding passes for the trip (San jose- Madrid, Madrid-London).You can check-in on line but its not necessary if not convenient. Your hold luggage should be checked by them all the way to London.- you won't need to collect it in Madrid.

San Jose term M dep 1700 (check-in at least 2.5 hrs before) flight IB6314 2nd August.Arrive 11.30am 3rd August Madrid term 4SGo to term 4 in Madrid with your hand luggage to take flight IB3164 to London Heathrow, departing Madrid 12.40. This is quite a tight schedule but Trailfinders tell me that Iberia should put you on a later flight at no extra cost if you miss this connection.(there are other flights at 13.30 and 14.20 but they'd have to give you a new boarding pass if that occurs)

You arrive London Terminal 5 where we'll be waiting.Lots of LoveHave a good tripPhil & Anne + Jeremy

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The 13A Expedition blog

Welcome to the Raleigh blog for Costa Rica and Nicaragua. You can view our posts, videos and photos (click on them to enlarge) and browse through our blog archive. Let us know what you think and you can also send messages to your loved ones and friends and we'll pass them on when we visit the project sites. So dive in and explore...

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Raleigh Lingo

Copy that?

Sometimes our Raleigh technical terms can be a tad confusing so we've put together a glossary for you blog followers. This will appear as a quick-reference section on the right-hand column so you can translate our Tico-terms into something a bit more palatable. And for those keen to brush up their Central American Spanish, we've included some handy translations. Here's a few to get you started...

Alpha, X-Ray and Zulu groups(Grupos Alfa, X-Ray y Zulu)The official name for project groups during the phases of CR&N 13A. Alpha will be out on project from 3rd to 23rd February, X-Ray from 24th February to 15th March and Zulu from 17th March to 5th April. Project groups are allocated during induction

BashaJungle ‘bed’: consists of a tarpaulin for shelter, a hammock and mosquito net. A basha is hung up between two trees and supported by rope, bamboo and canvas straps

BodegaA Spanish word meaning store or warehouse

BravoA term of endearment for our hard-working Land Rovers. The four vehicles are officially, and imaginatively named Bravo One, Two, Three and Four

C.A.T.I.E.The agricultural and development research institute on whose campus Fieldbase is situated. Find out more at http://www.catie.ac.cr/

Changeover (Cambio de Fase)Two day period where all staff and Venturers return from their project sites for some respite before they are all reallocated and sent off to do it all over again...

Chicas, ChicosSpanish term meaning girls (chicas) or guys (chicos) or both (chicos aswell). As in “Vamonos chicos!” or “Let’s go guys!”

Craic A way to gauge how people are feeling, usually measured from 0 to 90. If your ‘craic’ is high, you’re pretty happy. If you announce a low craic, people will probably fix you up with an energy bomb and a nice big hug

CR&N 13ACosta Rica and Nicaragua expeditions 13A

Day Leader (DL) (Líder del día)Every day on project, one of the Team is designated DL – they are in charge of the day, including organising the day’s briefing, keeping group morale up, dealing with any problems, sticking to schedule and de-briefing at the end of the day. The DL role rotates round the whole group so everyone takes a turn

Energizer (Actividad Levanta Muertos)An activity to gather the group together and raise energy levels. Can be used at the beginning of the day, or whenever a quick pick-me-up is required

Energy bombs (Explosión de azucar)A trekking treat – mix together oats, raisins, condensed milk and chocolate powder and roll into little balls of gooey goodness to power you through the day

Fieldbase (FB) (Campo Base)Refers to the Raleigh ‘office residence’ which is where the Fieldbase staff eat, sleep and work, whilst organising the expedition, manning the radios round the clock, supporting the projects, planning transport and logistics, keeping tabs on the finances and much, much more

Field Base Volunteer Managers (Equipo Logístico Voluntario del Campo Base)Volunteer support staff for the expedition. The team looks after the ‘behind the scenes’ of the expedition and ensures everything runs smoothly. This consists of three permanent staff members - the Country Director, Country Project Manager and Country Expedition Manager - plus a team of volunteer staff including the, Medic, Photographer, Administrator, Finance Officer, three Logistics (logs) team members and the Communications Officer

Longdrop (Letrina)The camp loo. Literally a deep hole in the ground, it is one of the first tasks to complete when setting up jungle camp for obvious reasons! Short drops are similar, normally used for overnight stops when a shallower trench will suffice

Longs (Pantalones)From 6pm onwards, we all don long trousers and sleeves to discourage the bugs that aren’t deterred by DEET

MaxisShort for Maxi Pali, the stock-everything shop about a kilometer from Fieldbase where you can buy all those things you forgot/ran out of/lost

NicasAn affectionate term referring to the native population of Nicaragua

NinjaA popular game/energizer used by venturers and Project managers alike. Everyone stands in a circle and tries to hit the team members either side of them on the hand via a single ninja movements. Sound effects welcome

POPSLegendary milkshake and ice-cream parlour chain found all over Costa Rica – perfect for a sweet splurge

Pork and beans (Frijoles con cerdo)Another staple foodstuff for trekkers: tinned beans with a slightly sausage twang, served cold for lunch. Usually accompanied by dry cracker dust, sprinkled liberally on to the top. If you’re in a hurry, this can be consumed without cutlery straight from the can

Project Managers (PMs) (Guías)Project staff for the expedition. Each of the groups has at least two PMs who work with the Venturers to develop skills, lead projects and challenge themselves

Radio check (Chequeo de Radio)As well as a daily SITREP, all Alpha projects are required to complete a second radio call-in each day to check in, receive messages and report any developments

Review (Revisión)A round-up that assesses how everyone feels, what went well and what needs work. This is sometimes an ‘activity’, sometimes a chat around the campfire, or sometimes just a bit of time to reflect. It’s an important part of everyone’s personal development so we make sure it happens every day

Roadtrip (Paseo Volando Rueda)The logistics team and some of the Field Base team drive the Bravos on a loop round to each of the accessible project sites once per phase. They deliver kit, supplies, site visitors, messages from the blog and of course the all important post

Ropa AmericanaPurveyors of the finest second hand American threads. Perfect for fancy dress/obtaining that long coveted college sports jersey

SITREP (Reporte de la Situación)Literally Situation Report. A special radio message sent from the satellite project sites back to fieldbase once a day. It follows a certain format and includes all sort of handy information like where they are, what they’ve been up to, what they need and what they’re planning to do next

TangA fruity powder that is used to make squash. Jolly useful for taking away the chlorine taste of purified water

TicosAn affectionate term referring to the native population of Costa Rica

Venturers (Aventureros)Participants in the Raleigh expedition. Aged 17 to 24, they come in three varieties: Host Country Venturers (from Costa Rica and Nicaragua), Partnership Venturers (positive young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK who participate in Raleigh expeditions as part of a longer term development programme) and UK and International Fundraising Participants (who work hard to raise money to contribute towards the charities work and expenses in order to take part in the expedition)

Wash up (Revisión Final)The last few days of expedition, spent debriefing, returning equipment, performing skits, and most importantly enjoying the farewell party (tears alert)

Zero (Cero)A radio term that identifies the radio controller at Fieldbase. Fieldbase monitors the radios 24-7, listening out on three frequencies for calls from our satellite project sites. When the radio alarm sounds, we might answer something like this: “Hello unknown call sign, hello unknown call sign, this is Zero, this is zero, do you copy, OVER?”